Not only am I new to LibriVox, but this is my first time joining any forum, so I'm glad to see that none of you are the biting sort...

I'm particularly interested in reading, and will get my One Minute Test done next time I fire up the microphone, then set about choosing a short work or open group project.

The BIG question I have is, can I find anyone here willing to stand as my 'assessor' for my Duke of Edinburgh's Award? See, though I've been interested in reading for some years, it's the Community Service aspect of the Duke of Ed that has finally forced me to actually take action. The catch is, that means I need someone willing to sign me off in another eight or nine months, basically to verify, "Yes, she did actively and regularly contribute to LibriVox." It's all done online, so you just need to have a computer and internet access from somewhere in the world

So, various entities are willing to give out awards for reading for Librivox? Sort of like earning girl scout patches? Or the way the Astronomy League awards pins for so many hours of amateur observation of the heavens? That is really cool. Citizen science. Citizen preservation of literature as audio. That is an awesome way for people to be attracted to volunteer for good and important stuff. I hope we can help. Using the Reader detail page, it shouldn't be too hard for any reader to prove their hours of service. I don't think "hours" are compiled in any one list, but all projects you contributed to are listed.

Sounds like you haven't had many Duke of Ed-ers on here before! The DoE Award is very broad and self-directed, yet structured in such a way that it represents significant personal achievement by the time it is completed.

The Service component (for which I intend to count LibriVox) is very open, and the Award office has already approved my intent to volunteer by reading audio books. No, this does not depend on LibriVox being a charity; yes, if a few veteran LibriVox people familiarised themselves with the (simple) process of being an Assessor for DoE volunteers and you found a way to get the word out, you may well attract some strongly motivated, diligent young volunteers!

In my case, I need to average an hour a week of service (with activity no less frequent than every four weeks) for more than six months (it's a year total, but I've already clocked some other volunteering and I'm not sure exactly what I have left). However, I'm not limited to counting Finished Hours... and being a fairly serious amateur actress and storyteller, I'm planning to spend proper preparation time on my reading, too. How to count that in a way an Assessor would be willing to acknowledge is open to discussion.

By the bye, although it's the Award that finally got me here, I'm here because I've wanted to for years! I needed a catalyst, but don't assume I'm going to vanish at the end and never be heard from again I'm quite willing to get 'hooked'!

It's the hours count that can cause problems, we only know that the hours the finished product runs, so that's really all we can sign off as you doing. It would be possible for someone to pick up a book, read a 30-minute story and upload it - it would probably be awful but we have had them submitted by students before today. But any extra time is only your word, and even though I know it would take much longer to produce I personally couldn't say how much

Sure. And I wouldn't want anyone to feel they were outside of truth (which they wouldn't be). But it ought to be evident from the reading and recording quality that significantly more than the finished time has gone into the work, and that my goal of contributing to the world of free audiobooks has been achieved... perhaps the assessor and I could agree on a 'safe' margin somewhere between the actual time invested and the finished hours?

Can you point us to an online explanation of the requirements for the assessing?
I know about the award, but think it is important for anyone agreeing to act as one to know exactly what they are being asked to say - it's too late when the time has finished to find out.

The working with children bit would be easy - I have one already, my daughter fosters children.
It's not madly informative otherwise.
So - how do you visualise it working? There's a time factor too I notice - 1 hour per week etc. etc. How am I to know that that's what you have done or do they trust you with the timetable part of it ?
I'm asking questions because we haven't had much success with Duke of Edinborough and Queen's and Eagle scouts and I'd like to be able to set up some sort of protocol that would work for both them and us

No, unfortunately, it isn't very helpful. I could try writing to the Award Office and see if they have any suggestions if you like, though I suspect this is currently a rare situation.

I am an Independent Participant, meaning I'm enrolled directly with the Victorian office and responsible directly to them for managing my Award. In all the time I did Bronze and Silver, and since commencing Gold, I've been responsible for calculating and recording my own hours (and always clocked some extra as a margin, in any case). Most activities I've done have involved regular sessions or meetings (sports training, St John Ambulance meetings, speech and drama lessons...) which allowed my Assessor to see that I was actively involved. Librivox is trickier than I'd anticipated because it's entirely online.

I have a few ideas for this situation, trying to think not only of my own situation but as you say considering the need for a longer-lasting protocol.

1. It could be helpful for the prospective Assessor have one or more phone or video calls with the Award Candidate. It's harder for me to fake being mature and responsible when I don't have the opportunity to proofread

2. Upwork has a system by which it supervises distance freelancers - it takes a screenshot randomly within ten minute spaces. The employer can then see what the freelancer was doing at random moments in the time they're billing for. If such a program can be found for the general public to use, we could use it to partially supervise the 'work' an Award Candidate is doing.

3. The hours are logged in an online record book. I don't know this for sure, but I suspect that once an Assessor is registered, they can view the Candidate's progress. Thus, you would be able to see hours as they are logged. This makes it a little more complex for the Candidate to do all the work at once and then claim that it was spread out as required. (The online record book calculates not the total hours spent, but the total permitted to be counted. It automatically calculates for the required frequency, which is currently set at four hours every four weeks, minimum).

4. The Assessor and Candidate could agree on an Hours Per Finished Hour rate, dependent on quality. This could work particularly well for simple readings.

5. For more complex readings, the Candidate could use notes and documents produced to prove time. If I were reading, for instance, a PG Wodehouse with a large cast, I'd want to pre-read, make notes, and practice character voices. I could photograph my notes or send through my digital colour-coded version of the text to prove I'd done that prep work. I could also save my initial raw recording to demonstrate its original length and contrast it with the final recording to prove editing effort. I could keep a log of breaks or interruptions during a recording session. With all of this, I'd hope to be able to satisfy my Assessor that I had indeed taken the time I was claiming and have them willing to support my effort.

6. At the end of the day, the spirit of the Award is to 'Challenge Yourself.' I'm undertaking Gold because I want to push myself further than I have before, and tackle opportunities I haven't previously bothered with. It is always possible for an Award Candidate to cheat their way through, but I consider myself personally responsible for the achievement my Award will represent, and thus for the satisfaction and learning I will gain from it. Some level of trust will always have to undergird a Candidate-Assessor relationship, but hopefully some processes can be established to make that a positive experience for both parties.

OK, just one more question.
What sort of projects are you planning to participate in? I have very little to do with the drama projects we have, and I would find it impossible to assess you on them, but someone else probably could.
Reading chapters or complete books I think I could manage

I hadn't planned to do any dramas at this point. (Though for reference and to save you and others too much stress and time in future - the assessor would not necessarily have to listen to or be directly involved in everything a participant does - if the project manager and proof listeners approve it, that would demonstrate success in the project - so long as the participant's goal is simply to contribute.)

I think, for me, I would want to read a few chapters to get the hang of things, and then probably finish off with a complete book, just for the experience.